I can’t believe there are only two days left till The Conqueror Awards. Suddenly, I don’t feel quite as prepared as I’d like!
If you’re already a fan of letterpress, I totally recommend attending for the door gift alone: a specially-commissioned, limited edition letterpress print! I’m not going to ruin the surprise, but here are some sneak peeks of what the lovely people at Antalis (holding company of the Conqueror brand) let me cook up for the attendees:
As you can see, it was clearly designed by a typophile, for typophiles.
Look closely – do you see the hint of glimmer?
Yup. Gold edge painting. No kidding.
I hope you’ll come claim one for yourself on Wednesday! Also, if you wanted to hear me talk about letterpress -and see photos of me printing these – my segment starts at 6:00pm.
Remember, you have to register for tickets so if you haven’t done that yet it might be a good idea to click here and get that sorted post-haste!
Ready for more DIY decor inspiration? Since I covered paint-related projects in the last post, I thought we’d try something just slightly more ambitious today.
First up, I have something special for all you crafty hoarders out there with more paper scraps than they know what to do with.
On the left is a wall collage of paper scraps glued to vintage plaques spray-painted white. Sound tricky? It really isn’t, thanks to Better Homes & Gardens‘ instructions. An assortment of cheap plates in different shapes would do just as well.
On the right, we have a wave of paper doily flowers with thumb tack centers. There weren’t instructions with this photo, but all you need to do is to get doilies of different sizes, fold them into quarters and twist gently to add dimension. Then, unfurl them and pin them through their centers with a brightly coloured thumbtack. Ta-dah!
If you’re looking for something a little easier, what about a garland?
Although this photo didn’t come with instructions either, you can learn how to make a multitude of garlands from A Beautiful Mess. Seeing this when I opened my eyes, I’d feel like I was waking up to a secret party every morning!
Last but not least (and definitely not in terms of production effort) is this amazing textured wall hanging.
Doesn’t it look like something you’d see in a fancy boutique hotel? The detailed instructions can be had over at Signed by Tina if you’re interested in tackling this beauty.
That’s all* I have for you today, but the next installment features found or easily procurable items for those of you who aren’t into painting or crafting, so do swing back around soon.
*Notice that nowhere in this post did I talk about toilet roll art. Sure, it’s cheap, easy and eco-friendly, but believe me when I say it’s in poor taste to display the relics of your bodily functions. Even the ones made of cardboard!
So this is actually day-old news – thanks a lot, twitter! – but I thought I’d share the long version here: something very exciting is going to happen on the 14th of March. I’m going to be a guest speaker at…
This is such a great honor, and certainly one that hasn’t quite sunk in yet. I’ll be speaking alongside design industry greats Kevin Finn and Jonathan Yuen in between the segments of award categories. I’m truly, truly humbled.
I can’t wait to take the opportunity to talk about letterpress and share some of the intricacies of the art form. If you’ve ever wanted to know more about what I do, how I do it, and why it’s worth doing, I hope you’ll come by.
That reminds me: I haven’t started planning my seminar address yet, so if there’s anything you’re personally curious about and would like me to address, I’d love to hear from you. Send me an email via the contact form, and I promise to take on as many suggestions as possible. Ask me anything at all…or, you know, just wish me luck. Because when it comes to public speaking, I think I might need it!
More information and registration/ticketing details are available through the The Conqueror Awards’ official site.
I’ve been giving a lot of thought to decorating lately, thanks to a pending bedroom overhaul, and a majority of those thoughts have turned to art.
For some strange reason, Adam and I never got around to hanging any art in this apartment despite the fact that our last place was absolutely covered in our combined endeavors. Even our dog contributed – we had a huge abstract painting in our dining area that was created by dipping Dolce’s paws and favourite ball in paint, and then playing fetch across the canvas. While I suspect we (dog included) have outgrown those adventurous artistic endeavors, I do love the idea of artwork that’s easy and relatively inexpensive. It goes without saying that it should also make an impact and/or be a conversation starter too.
Here are some DIY art ideas that I’ve earmarked for my own decorating inspiration. Two things you will find neither in my list nor my home? Vinyl wall stickers and anything from IKEA’s print department. I hate to say this, but stickers are not art, and IKEA is not a gallery. However, an even better reason to avoid them is that you can do so much better yourself. Look:
Isn’t this a cool modern piece?
Follow the ridiculously easy instructions at The New Domestic and have your own painted and hung up in a couple of hours.
The soothing palette and organic finish of this piece totally hooked me. Can you guess how the pattern was made?
With potatoes! I kid you not. Check out the instructions at Design Haven if you don’t believe me.
Ditto this cheerful artwork from Oh Happy Day. Who would have thought the ugly potato-stamps we made as kids could have resurfaced as something so pretty? I’m pretty sure my mom would have framed a lot more of my kiddy art if the teachers at school had set us art projects like this.
I hope I’ve gotten your inspiration levels up on an otherwise blah Monday. If you’re as excited about DIY art as I am, stay tuned – as the title indicates, I have more tricks up my sleeves and I’m dying to share!
Top photo via Pinterest.
Every time I come across a snip of vintage packaging, it confirms my suspicion that everything was just so much more charming back in the day. Sure, you’d probably kick it at the ripe old age of 30 after catching a cold, but man. Graphic design back then was something else.
The folks at Seen+Noted clearly agree. Behold, their stunning modern reproductions of vintage typewriter ribbon tins. How gorgeous are these?
And there’s a poster!
Note: Unfortunately, it seems from their related post that these prints and poster were created for a specific event and aren’t on sale anymore. I say we all write in and beg them to print a second run of these for sale – I’d buy one of those posters in a heartbeat, wouldn’t you?
Aren’t these amazing?
I just recently got clued into Brian Dettmer‘s intricate book sculptures (via Neil Gaiman‘s twitter, no lie) and had to share. Irony aside, words fail me where describing the brilliance of this is concerned. Plus I think the artist himself says it best:
“The richness and depth of the book is universally respected yet often undiscovered as the monopoly of the form and relevance of the information fades over time. The book’s intended function has decreased and the form remains linear in a non-linear world. By altering physical forms of information and shifting preconceived functions, new and unexpected roles emerge.”
These are just a few of my favourites, but I highly recommend checking out his other pieces here and here
I never really played with Lego as a kid (to my mother’s dismay, I was a Barbie girl) but the older I get, the more I’ve been able to appreciate them – not so much as a toy, but as a really quirky sculpture medium.
And as far as sculptures go, how cool is this one?
Lego artist Sachiko Akinaga built this Lego hotel for T Magazine’s winter travel issue. Here’s a close up of the hotel entrance, with patrons streaming in. The 3 star rating above the door seems a little modest for a hotel with such a happening roof patio though.
Akinaga’s attention to detail is pretty fantastic. Check out the 4 piece band, and the bartenders clad in head-to-toe black.
See more photos of this amazing project, and others on Akinaga’s website.
Remember when you were little and connecting drinking straws together at restaurants was super amusing? Well, it seems someone’s taken that concept and brilliantly turned out something other than one very long straw.
Behold, AM Radio‘s Hanging Modern Mobiles:
So clever and chic. I especially love the idea of hanging a cluster of them together in lieu of a chandelier; picturing a lone Squirrel Cage Edison Bulb in the midst of them is really feeding my interior design fantasies…
Maps are wonderful things, aren’t they? All at once, you can be in awe of how large the world is and still be moved by how connected we all are.
Plus, they’re so beautiful as art when the look is done right.
Scale and grouping seems to be the key – small, isolated maps tend to veer the look either country or dorm room, don’t you think?
Yesterday I did something I’d been meaning to for a while and bought a cute little print of a vintage world map for our bedroom. I suspect Adam was actively biting his tongue as this unfolded, since he’d already protested once on the matter when I almost walked out of Restoration Hardware with this beauty in New York. Honestly, honey. I’m sure they’d have shipped it for me.
I’ve recently developed an obsession with all things retro, which of course has bubbled over and materialized in letterpress form at the studio. Unfortunately it was only for a personal project…but I’d love to see this moodboard come to life for a wedding, wouldn’t you?
What I really love about this moodboard is the contrasts between homey and glam, retro and modern, cool and hot. I could go on and on about this, but I’ll just leave off here and let you (hopefully!) find your own inspiration in it.
(L-R) Top row: Retro dessert buffet from here. Beautiful poppy arrangement from here. Middle row: Photo from here. Stripy staws from here. Bottom row: Photo from here. Glitter Louboutins from here. Red velvet cake bars from here.
